From America's favorite small cities to world-class destinations, Allegiant makes leisure travel affordable and convenient. With low-low fares, nonstop, all-jet service and premier travel partners, Allegiant provides a complete travel experience with great value and without all the hassle. Allegiant was founded in 1997 and is certified by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) as a "Scheduled Air Carrier" with authority to fly scheduled and charter airline operations throughout the U.S.

The Company also has authority for charter service to Canada and Mexico.

Passengers can purchase 1 carry-on Bag (per passenger) and can pre-purchase up to 4 checked bags per passenger.

News

10th January 2018

Allegiant Air coming to Sarasota-Bradenton Airport

The ultra-low-cost carrier will begin routes in April.

Allegiant Air is coming to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and bringing two new nonstop routes with it.

The Las Vegas-based ultra-low-cost carrier on Tuesday made a surprising move into the regional airport, announcing year-round service beginning in April to Indianapolis International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport.

This commitment from Allegiant bucks what has traditionally been Sarasota-Bradenton’s most significant hurdle to gaining new carriers and routes: It hasn’t been easy for airport CEO Frederick “Rick” Piccolo and his team to lure new flights into the regional airport when Tampa International Airport and its colossal line-up of travel offerings is just to the north.

Allegiant, though, appears less concerned with its neighbors.

The budget-friendly carrier currently offers 40 destinations out of Punta Gorda Airport to the south and 54 out of St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport to the north.

Both of those airports are even closer to Sarasota-Bradenton than Tampa International, and even though Piccolo has been courting Allegiant since the airline was in its infancy, signing it on seemed unlikely when what he was offering was wedged in between the two.

“This one took us a little by surprise — that we were able to push them across the finish line,” Piccolo said.

But after years of pitches, Allegiant approached his team about a month ago, and negotiations steamrolled from there, Piccolo said.

The new service, expected to bring 100,000 new passengers annually, comes on the heels of an announcement from Elite Airways that adds nonstop service between Sarasota-Bradenton and Pittsburgh beginning in February.

Bringing back routes

The new routes restore three once-popular destinations to the regional airport.

Travelers haven’t been able to fly nonstop to Cincinnati and Indianapolis from Sarasota-Bradenton for about six years, Piccolo said, and it’s been roughly 15 years since U.S. Airways plucked its Pittsburgh route from the lineup.

“Giving the pricing model they have, we think it will do very well,” he said. “Especially, the cities that they’ve chosen — Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis — were all good cities for us in the prior years before those services went away.”

St. Petersburg and Punta Gorda have been so popular with travelers that adding Sarasota-Bradenton to the mix was a natural move toward more growth, said Bud Hafer, manager of airport affairs for Allegiant.

Traffic was up 12 percent last year at St. Petersburg, and the airport welcomed 2.06 million passengers. Allegiant has a strong presence in St. Petersburg and is responsible for 54 of the airport’s 57 routes, but its grip is even tighter at Punta Gorda Airport, where Allegiant has 40 routes and is its only carrier. Punta Gorda welcomed 1.3 million passengers in the 12 months ending Nov. 30 and saw more than a 14 percent increase in November when compared with the same month in 2016.

The start of service to Sarasota-Bradenton won’t rob from the other two airports, Hafer said, but instead will add to the offerings in the region. His customers have been vocal about wanting a Sarasota-Bradenton flight.

“It’s because the demand is so great that we can provide the service directly to Sarasota-Bradenton,” Hafer said. “We’ve grown tons in Punta Gorda and St. Pete, and this is about continuing growth and expanding it and really making Allegiant the destination airline for Southwest Florida.”

“It’s not going to change any of the growth plans in Punta Gorda or St. Pete,” Hafer continued. “We plan to grow there as well. This is just an additional destination. We’re very strong in Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, so we’ve got plenty of flights to go around.”

Hafer didn’t elaborate on specific destinations, but he did say that Allegiant was exploring additional Sarasota-Bradenton routes, too.

With Allegiant on board, Sarasota-Bradenton can now offer travelers seven airlines and 15 nonstop routes.

Stirring interest

It’s a substantial bump for an airport that suffered a major blow in 2012 when AirTran left and took about a third of the airport’s passenger traffic with it.

Since then, it’s been a revolving door of sorts as Sarasota-Bradenton and local tourism officials have tried to attract new carriers by waving the first two years of fees at the airport and offering marketing incentives.

The program has seen some success, most recently with Elite Airways. The boutique airline came to Southwest Florida in 2016 with a single flight to Portland, Maine, and has since added routes to Pittsburgh and White Plains, New York.

The incentives packages don’t always lead to that kind of growth, though. WestJet gave Sarasota-Bradenton a try in 2015 with a single route to Toronto and then canceled service roughly a year later.

Even with that turbulence, Piccolo is hopeful the Allegiant deal will stir some interest among other airlines. Now that a dynamic ultra-low-cost carrier has moved in, it could encourage competitors such as Frontier, Sun Country and Spirit and even more traditional airlines to consider a move to Sarasota-Bradenton.

“It put us on (the ultra-low-cost carrier) map but, secondly, it shows that a carrier of this significance sees the growth and the potential here,” he said. “And it tends to make other airlines at least take a second look at us, both existing carriers and carriers we don’t have.”

Tourism opportunities

The deal also poses a unique opportunity for the tourism markets in both Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Allegiant is easing the path to the Midwest in a way that Sarasota-Bradenton hasn’t seen since AirTran’s departure. Beyond United’s service to Chicago and Delta’s seasonal route to Detroit, nonstop travel options to that part of the country have been slim in recent years. The ease that comes with nonstop routes is essential to attracting visitors, said Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County.

“If you look at Allegiant’s history, they usually come in at the beginning with direct flights, and they add, and they add quickly,” Haley said. “The low fares are exciting, but we hear from a lot of our visitors that it’s more about the direct flights.”

Cincinnati is a particularly exciting addition, Haley said, because her team had already identified that market as an under-performing spot that could bring in more visitors. There’s already funding allotted in this fiscal year’s budget to try to bring in more visitors from Ohio in April, May and June to ease the post-season lull.

“It should have better numbers than it does, so we feel like, with a little push, it should be better,” she said.

She and Elliott Falcione, the director of Manatee County’s tourism agency, both have high hopes for the Ohio and Indiana routes.

The new flights to Pittsburgh, though, could bring some complications to the airlines.

Typically, Sarasota County doesn’t see too many visitors from there, but Bradenton has strong ties to that area through its spring training connection with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Now, between the new Allegiant and Elite routes into Sarasota-Bradenton, along with Pittsburgh flights to Punta Gorda, St. Petersburg and Tampa International, Falcione has quite a few airplane seats to fill. They’re all going to need passengers to survive.

“There are a lot of seats available now on different carriers,” he said. “We need Pittsburghers and Sarasota-Bradenton residents to embrace the flights, so we can enhance them and hopefully we never lose it.”

“I’m excited to learn the business model of Allegiant and see how the target market that they go after integrates with our target market,” Falcione said. “We’ll roll up our sleeves and continue to work really hard with Sarasota-Bradenton. They’ve got real momentum right now.”

But there’s more to that momentum than just filling hotel beds and bringing in visitor dollars.

The three new routes are exciting, Falcione said, but what additional airline service can do for the community as a whole is the real highlight.

When companies look at making a move to this region, they look at just how easy it is to travel here. More nonstop flights and more carriers sweeten those kinds of deals.

Los Angeles is the main airport serving Los Angeles Area and serves as the hub airport for American Airlines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Great Lakes Airlines and Virgin America.

Other airlines which fly to and from Los Angeles include Aer Lingus, Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air Berlin, Air Canada, Air China, Air France, Air New Zealand, Air Tahiti Nui, American Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Singapore Airlines and many others.

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Allegiant Air is an expanding low cost airline based in Las Vegas and concentrating on leisure traffic between 71 US cities and nine operational hubs. ________________________________________ Allegiant Air low cost flights Allegiant Air is an unashamed to be a true low cost carrier and is proud to have an investment partner in the Ryan family, backers if the European giant low cost airline, Ryanair. Low cost flights on Allegiant Air The low tickets prices are married to a need to sell as many ancilliary services as possible as well as keeping operating costs to a minimum. Allegiant's fleet is growing with 46 MD 81/82/83/97/88 type aircraft and 6 new Boeing 757-200's due to arrive in 2010 and 2011. The Boeing 757's have been acquired to allow Allegiant Air to build a new operating hub in Hawaii. Its existing hub cities are Las Vegas, Orlando International and Orlando Sanford, St Petersburg- Clearwater, Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale and Bellingham. A new hub at Grand Rapids is planned for summer 2010. AllegiantAir of Las Vegas is set to acquire six Boeing 757-200 aircraft to facilitate an expansion of flights into Hawaii. AllegiantAir plans to take delivery of the all new aircraft by the end of 2011 and will be equipped for extended twin-engine operations (ETOPS), as required for long overwater flights. Allegiant expects to spend between $75 to 90 million through 2012 acquiring and preparing this fleet for service. Allegiant is acquiring this fleet with the express purpose of serving Hawaii, a major leisure destination that it cannot serve with its existing DC-9-80 (MD-80) fleet. Allegiant Air expects to launch service to Hawaii once appropriate regulatory requirements have been met. Allegiant Air currently operates 46 DC-9-82/83/87 and MD-88 aircraft and the 757 program will not affect its MD-80 growth plans. Allegiant expects to have 54 aircraft in service by the end of 2010 -- 52 MD-80 aircraft and two 757 aircraft

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